<p>I know there aren’t many Montessori schools/preschools here in the States, but some went to one, perhaps for just 1 year, when they were little. If your kid is one of them, how does she/he do now academically or otherwise? I know I’m asking the Montessori parents to speculate, as you don’t have a twin to compare with. I suspect the free style of learning might have some lasting effect.</p>
<p>My kids did not go to Montessori (or any other fancy preschool) - we could not afford it when they were little. I do not see any lasting brain damage.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose ds was in Montessori for years and is now thriving as a sophomore in a magnet HS.</p>
<p>^^^
Montessori is as cheap as others.</p>
<p>What gives you the idea that there aren’t many Montessori schools in the US? There are at least 3 in my area, and they’ve been around everywhere else I’ve lived.</p>
<p>Interestingly, I WISH I had put my kids in montessori. We know quite a handful at their current private schools that started out in it, and seeing the early performance of those kids in elementary school blew me away. I have watched, and it seem to still be there in HS too. Everyone is top of the class. Of course, could be a coincidence- there is no true control group- but it has always made me thought we should have considered it.</p>
<p>We have many Montessori schools in our area and they are the only private alternatives to Christian schools. I know many, many “graduates” who transitioned into pubic schools, generally around 4th or 5th grade. Sometimes, it has seemed, that the moms have the most difficulty adjusting to public school: PTA politics, homework schedules, larger schools. </p>
<p>The Montessori curriculum, with Montessoi trained teachers, is used in a number of our public pre-K programs and is promoted that way. I don’t think Montessori is a “free style of learning” although it can look that way when compared to a traditional school. Maria Montessori had some really specific (rigid?) ideas about how kids learn.</p>
<p>D attended a Montessori K for one year and it was a wonderful experience for her. The free choice in learning was a definite benefit for her. She definitely seized on math concepts much more quickly thanks to the use of concrete materials. I think that’s part of the reason she’s studying engineering now- the love of numbers and order that was ingrained early on. She has always excelled academically.</p>
<p>Both kids were in Montessori. They were also in other pre-schools. I can’t see that the Montessori label made one bit of difference.</p>
<p>They are both articulate, well-rounded people. Neither is the super academically driven superstar, but I don’t think that’s in them.</p>
<p>I think early socialization was good for both of them, and I was generally very satisfied with their preschool experience.</p>
<p>One read fluently at 3, the other at 5 (eye issues).</p>
<p>I really think the most important thing for little ones is social opportunities and interesting things to do. Montessori’s theories are interesting, but other theories work just as well I think.</p>
<p>DS also learned violin in a Suzuki school (started at 6) but since he started piano at 4 he could already read music so he didn’t have the complete Suzuki experience.</p>
<p>He has strengths and deficits as a musician, but I don’t think the Suzuki method would have fixed those deficits.</p>
<p>Likewise, I don’t think the Montessori theory would have turned my kids into Nobel prize winners. Both did quite well in HS, went to good colleges, have friends and interests and their own struggles. Just like most people.</p>
<p>I do think it was nice to have the same teacher three years in a row, but then, you really have to like that teacher.</p>
<p>My daughter went to Montessori for three years and we were quite pleased, especially in the area of math. I’ve heard claims that older children still remember the math “work” they did because they were such concrete concepts. There were seven kids in her kindergarten class and 6 were accepted into a center based gifted and talented program. I’m not sure if that is the result of the Montessori background or the education obsessed culture of our county.</p>
<p>My older daughter went to a Montessori preschool, my younger to a play based educational preschool that was not Montessori inspired at all. They are both bright and doing well. The older one is in a top university, the younger is still in high school, with great grades and test scores.</p>
<p>My s went to a Montessori through 4th grade; his older sister went to public school. It was a decision we made for him based on our experience with her in grade school. We thought a more flexible learning environment would be more ideal for him, and there were some practical considerations with the school’s proximity to my work. He transitioned easily in 5th grade to public middle school. In retrospect, he would have thrived in either environment for the early years. He is a very happy and academically strong college freshman now.</p>
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<p>That’s interesting. Our kids had CSMP in elementary school, and loved it.
[url=<a href=“http://mengelberg.home.comcast.net/~mengelberg/CSMP/csmp.html]CSMP[/url”>http://mengelberg.home.comcast.net/~mengelberg/CSMP/csmp.html]CSMP[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I loved it too - I though it taught thinking skills instead of counting objects or memorizing “math facts”.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, a few years later it was abandoned by the school district.</p>
<p>My youngest brother went to a Montessori preschool the other two of us did not. We all got into the same colleges, for what that is worth.</p>
<p>One kid attended montessori from ps up to grade 5 then switched to a more traditional private and is currently in 11th grade at a jesuit high school. He is doing great. Transition from montessori to tough middle school was not a problem. Other kid is currently in the upper elementary (grade 4) of montessori and also doing well, she also started montessori in preschool. Both kids tests very, very well on ISEE and older kid has done very well on SAT. While Montessori isn’t for everyone, my kids trived there.</p>
<p>What your child gets back from the Montessori experience will be dependent on what he or she puts into it.</p>
<p>My older D. attended Montessori for pre-school through kindergarten and she absolutely thrived. She loved everything about the experience and soaked up as much as she possibly could. As a high school senior she still comments on how much it helped her with geography. </p>
<p>My younger D. attended Montessori for two years of pre-school. It was the same school but not the same experience as my older D. had. The younger one is more social and was a lot less focused on the “works” at her pre-school. As a result, she didn’t learn as much. </p>
<p>Did they both have great experiences? Yes. Did they have the same results? No. Different kids, different results. And you could say the same thing about the Montessori programs themselves, different teachers can often lead to different results. Not all Montessori programs are created equal.</p>
<p>My D went to Motessori for three years starting when she was 2. She is a soph in hs doing very well on all subjects. No idea how she benefitted from the early montessori education. She was a bright kid then and is a bright hard working student now. We moved her out of Montessori school for more social interactions. They didn’t have a circle time for one thing.</p>
<p>Same experience here - Montessori for kindergarten. Seemed great and he enjoyed it (and turned out just fine).</p>
<p>Anyone else here confuse mathmom and mythmom…?</p>
<p>Both daughters attended Montessori from the age of 2½ through kindergarten. The oldest is graduating Brown University in May and has a great job lined up. The youngest is a freshman at Amherst College. Theyve both done amazingly well in a variety of areas including academics, music, sports, etc.</p>
<p>The Montessori experience was terrific but it was just one valuable experience among many that helped them become the adults they are now.</p>
<p>My kids went to a Montessori school for the year we lived in Leipzig, Germany. They were in 4th and 6th grades and it was the perfect choice for us and them. Our kids didn’t speak German and with very few exceptions no one at the school spoke English. It was challenging for all of us but our kids became fluent in German and thrived at the school, fully integrating into German society. They almost had celebrity status at the school–everyone wanted to be friends with the visiting Americans!</p>